Sunday, October 23, 2016

President Obama’s faltering foreign policy has taken another serious hit. It is hard to think of another American president whose foreign policy initiatives failed as badly or as widely as Obama’s. The reconciliation with the Sunni world? The reset with Russia? Stabilizing the Middle East by tilting toward Iran? The Libya invasion? The Syria abstention? The ‘pivot to Asia’ was supposed to be the centerpiece of Obama’s global strategy; instead the waning months of the Obama administration have seen an important U.S. ally pivot toward China in the most public and humiliating way possible.
Duterte clearly thinks that humiliating Obama in this way is a solid career move. He certainly believes that China will support him against the critics at home and abroad who will wring their hands over his shift. He presumably has had some assurances from his Chinese hosts that if he commits his cause to them, they will back him to the hilt.

This points to a broader problem: Obama’s tortuous efforts to balance a commitment to human rights and the niceties of American liberal ideology with a strong policy in defense of basic American security interests have made the world less safe for both human rights and for American security. As the revisionist powers (Russia, China, and Iran) gain ground, foreign leaders feel less and less need to pay attention to American sermons about human rights and the rule of law. Death squads and extra-judicial executions on a large scale: the Americans will lecture you but China will still be your friend. Barrel bombing hospitals in Aleppo? The Russians won’t just back you; they will help you to do it. Obama’s foreign policy is making the world safer for people who despise and trample on the very values that Obama hoped his presidency would advance. His lack of strategic insight and his inability to grasp the dynamics of world power politics have opened the door to a new generation of authoritarian figures in alliance with hostile great powers.

Unintentionally, and with the best of intentions, he has opened the doors to the demons of Hell, and the darkest forces in the human spirit have much greater scope and much more power today than they did when he took the oath of office back in 2009.

Unintentionally? With the best of intentions? Is Mead talking about Obama or himself? Remember, as Mead excoriates Obama's foreign policy, that he not only voted for Obama, but voted to re-elect him. But it's not as if Obama's foreign policy was any better from 2008 to 2012 than it has been from 2012 to 2016.

Moreover, the man quite obviously has learned nothing from his past mistakes. Juxtapose these two phrases from the same article.

"Secretary Clinton is well aware of just how damaging the Filipino defection is in Asia; she helped develop the Obama administration’s Asia strategy."

"Should Secretary Clinton make it to the White House, her first and biggest job will be to stop and then reverse the deterioration in America’s global position that her predecessor permitted."

So, Mead not only voted - twice - for the man who permitted the deterioration in America's global position, but now advocates voting for the woman who helped develop that failed strategy.

Either Mead is incredibly stupid, or, as with Obama, we need to question whether he serves those very demons to whom the doors of Hell have been opened.

If there is not a Trumpslide on November 8th, there is a very good chance that the USA will find itself at war with a Russo-Chinese alliance. And that is a war that a USA saddled with the incompetent and unwell Hillary Clinton as Commander-in-Chief will almost certainly lose.

105 Comments:

US Asian strategy for the last 20 years has been ineffectual, its not just Obama or Clinton. If the US wanted to hold on to empire and the Pax Americana, its been screwing up very badly.If the goal was isolationism, its even worse, as you are exposed to foreign risks with diminished power abroad. The whole thing is a muddle, not one thing or the other.

Mead has argued there are four main streaks in the American character, without any one of which America would cease to be what it has been. He names them after figures in American history: the Jeffersonian, Hamiltonian, Jacksonian and Wilsonian. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. But they are all essential to the American character. Mead has taken a lot of heat for being a Jacksonian apologist, and I think the heat is somewhat deserved. The Jacksonian streak in the American character is honor-based, contemptuous of cowardice, trickery, treachery and cupiditiy. Should an enemy of America attack Americans, especially women and children, in a treacherous underhanded duplicitous manner, as (perhaps)with the Japanese with Pearl Harbor, or, as with Jackson himself, Indians murdering settlers in their beds, the reaction is...extreme. All-out war, at the least demands for unconditional surrender, or more, the complete destruction of the enemy people. Mead has argued that one of the reasons American simply do not condemn Israel for its reprisal attacks is that the Jacksonian streak in Americans recognizes Israelis as being the same kind of people in the same kind of situation.

I read his essay through that perspective. Look at all the aplogetic words and phrases he bestows upon Obama: failure, humiliation, "making the world safe for the very sort of people who despise and trample on...Obama."

"Lack of strategic insight..". "Inability to grasp the dynamics of world power politics.."

I think a between-the-lines reading leads to the conclusion that Mead is an apologist for Obama the same way Scott Adams was an endorser of Hillary "for his own personal protection."

Just read today that Soros is funding democrat prosecutor candidates around the country to make sure that prominent leftists are not prosecuted while any who oppose or resist them are. Think Lorreta Lynch and Hillary writ small... everywhere.

PatrickH wrote:I think a between-the-lines reading leads to the conclusion that Mead is an apologist for Obama the same way Scott Adams was an endorser of Hillary "for his own personal protection."ytou're way over-thinking it. Mead endorsed Obama enthusiastically, voted for him 4x (primary and general) and has announced he's voting for Hillary and encourages others to do so.

He's just dismayed that all the good intentions in the world aren't worth a fart in a hurricane when it comes to international relations. He fails entirely to see that the intentions aren't good at all.

In order for America to be great do they have to project military power or can they not simply concentrate on protecting their own borders? As a Libertarian I don't see a problem losing the Philippines from the orbit of the USA. This is just another foreign entanglement.

And they're not going to be able to find any Americans to fight that was because they're forcing soldiers to pay back tens of thousands of dollars in signing bonuses from the previous wars. Hillary is going to have to conscript, something she's been wanting to do for years. Plus, we're going to seen even more illegals lured into the service.

Perhaps Mead is just a disingenuous asshole? Does he own a pink bow tie?

because Hitlery has been failing forward for over 40 years now.

I thought it was only since her stroke.

OT I wonder why the media is totally ignoring all of the 18 things TRUMP promised to do on his first day? Along with his 100 day plan. Its a good thing he only needs 4 hours of sleep.https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2016/10/22/donald-trump-contract-with-the-american-voter/#more-123489

search on Google using this phrase: “the press thinks people are stupid” and look at the suggested searches:

Duterte clearly thinks that humiliating Obama in this way is a solid career move. He certainly believes that China will support him against the critics at home and abroad who will wring their hands over his shift. He presumably has had some assurances from his Chinese hosts that if he commits his cause to them, they will back him to the hilt.

Sonewhat off topic -If or when Trump walks into the Oval office he will be entering the biggest nest of vipers in human history. The whole "permanent government" will be his enemy, as also the attached interests. Its an incredibly corrupt system, I have been dealing with bits and pieces of it for 30 years, and have been getting more and more awed by the scale and coverage of the thing. I was also, in my time, dealing with the PhilGov under Marcos when I was with AIG and AAndersen. Lets say that kleptocracy was far more modest and transparent than this one.

WRM has been dining out in my intellectual space for about a decade or so because of the Jacksonian America essay, which I found very explanatory. He's grown tiresome, however, and I'm about to close that tab.

I think a between-the-lines reading leads to the conclusion that Mead is an apologist for Obama the same way Scott Adams was an endorser of Hillary "for his own personal protection."

I disagree. I enjoyed his essay on The Jacksonian Tradition, but I recognized that he was Dian Fossey and I was a silverback gorilla.

Mead endorsed Obama enthusiastically, voted for him 4x (primary and general) and has announced he's voting for Hillary and encourages others to do so.

Now see, I could forgive the one, because I'm actually the mythical swing voter that can always spot a winner. (So you should be encouraged that I'm on Trump's side.) And anyway I was going through a spiritual quest, agnostic at the time when I voted for Obama 4x.

But I got better, and my rationalization hamster can't figure out how to excuse him for remaining so incredibly, horribly wrong.

If or when Trump walks into the Oval office he will be entering the biggest nest of vipers in human history. The whole "permanent government" will be his enemy, as also the attached interests. Its an incredibly corrupt system, I have been dealing with bits and pieces of it for 30 years, and have been getting more and more awed by the scale and coverage of the thing.

The 2010 SC case Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board held that the President has the constitutional prerogative to fire any officer of the Executive branch for any reason or none, regardless of what the Civil Service Act says. (Well, nearly. A law declaring all Fed. Exec. branch employees officers is needed.) Trump can use his constitutional authority to see that the laws are faithfully executed to ensure that bureaucrats are loyal and competent. He should do so en masse without giving them more than a few days warning. Have 98% of everybody in the Executive branch take a loyalty/intelligence/knowledge test at the same time, instant scoring, anybody who doesn't score high in the first two has two weeks to document their job and is transferred to a make-work / job-hunt department and let go over the course of a year, then the department is eliminated.

Other possibilities include, but are probably not limited to, a) he lied about voting for Obama, b) he voted for Obama in full realization that no single vote makes a shit of difference, c) he's split between being an emotional liberal and an intellectual conservative of some color.

@32. End stage of a failing mag: go behind the paywall. Good authors we throw money at because we want their books.

On topic: Please withdraw from the TPP. (a) it will piss of the NZ gov't, and that is good (b) it stops Yankee lawyer scum litigating every rule in NZ (c) it means we can tariff the shit out of every product US Food and Agriculture subsidizes (d) we'd rather work with a free Britain. (We already have a free trade agreement with China.)

I hate to say it out loud but as a Christian who has studied Revelation and Daniel pretty extensively over the years, I don't see anything in either book that looks anything remotely like the good old USA (at least not the free, prosperous, powerful Christian constitutional republic we all like to think of when we think of the USA).

So at some point before the last days we're going to have to go. So there's no guarantee this isn't that time.

As someone who once worked in politics, I can't seem to break the habit of vociferously reading any political or historical type writings. Despite this, I only vaguely remember that Jacksonian essay, and am drawing a complete blank in regards to Meade, himself. Should I feel stupid about this, or is he much more insignificant than he'd (obviously) ever imagine? In any event,judging him on his prior lack of just basic common sense, not just once, but twice, regarding Obama, I declare him severely lacking on many fronts. Please correct me if I've gotten this wrong, and certainly let me know why that's the case.Thanks. 😊

@12 " Plus, we're going to seen even more illegals lured into the service."

This is the most dangerous part. While perceptions of the legitimacy of the globalist Washington DC regime deteriorate, loyal Americans will decreasingly be willing to serve as mercenaries to fight the wars of globalist plutocrats actively working to destroy America and the rest of the West. The problem isn't just illegals, either. We have 50-100 million foreigners with papers inside our borders now. They have no loyalty to America.

As an Australian I'm hoping that the TPP will allow US gun manufacturers sue the Australian governments (State and Federal) for lost earning over our gun laws. The US Manufacturers are losing the opportunity to sell me semi-auto firearms, high capacity magazines as well as concealed & open carry goods.

Perhaps Walter Russell Mead could joins up with Victor Davis Hanson in writing some nice, calm, middle of the road sounding junk thought about Current Crises. I'm sure they could get it published in Atlantic or Foreign Affairs or some other dying, irrelevant mainstream publication.

I don't recall Obama's exact words, but he's essentially said that America needs to be taken down a notch. On this issue, I take the man at his word and I assume that this is the ultimate goal of his foreign policy actions. And from this perspective, everything that Obama has done makes perfect sense.

Zundfolge wrote:I hate to say it out loud but as a Christian who has studied Revelation and Daniel pretty extensively over the years, I don't see anything in either book that looks anything remotely like the good old USA (at least not the free, prosperous, powerful Christian constitutional republic we all like to think of when we think of the USA).

So at some point before the last days we're going to have to go. So there's no guarantee this isn't that time.

There's a very good chance those books don't mention the US because the main scope of their prophecies was fulfilled almost 2,000 years ago.

Most of the regulars will stick around. They have a lot of time invested, after all, though they'll convince themselves it's for more principled reasons. They won't break with DC until there's a fairly clear constitutional crisis, that cannot be looked at any other way. Simple election of the Hildebeest, while fraught with a future crisis, is not that crisis, itself.

36. Tom Kratman October 23, 2016 4:43 PMHave you thought that one through at all? Are you really that enthused about turning over all that equipment to the enemy?

IF Hillary wins / steals the electionTHEN all that equipment belongs to the enemy anyways.

unless you're saying that all of a sudden we're going to have a bunch of officers and troops refusing to follow orders?

39. Zundfolge October 23, 2016 5:08 PMI hate to say it out loud but as a Christian who has studied Revelation and Daniel pretty extensively over the years, I don't see anything in either book that looks anything remotely like the good old USA (at least not the free, prosperous, powerful Christian constitutional republic we all like to think of when we think of the USA).

the Whore.

pay special attention to the latter verses dealing with 'all the ships being idled and all the merchants of the earth'.

because everyone accepts our worthless debt script as 'money', our trade deficit 'enriches' all the merchants of the earth.

prior to ~1970, there was never any entity on the face of the planet which could have satisfied that part of the prophecy.

if Revelation is soon, the US is the only entity which could meet that definition.

if Revelation is withheld, it could yet wind up being some future global economic power.

however, the US is responsible, not only for using .Gov funds to pay for hundreds of thousands of abortions every year, we also export this policy all over the 3rd world.

*WE* are drunk on the blood of the innocents.

and we're also responsible ( via Obama's policies ) for the destruction of the Copt and Oriental Churches throughout North Africa and the Near East.

*WE* are persecuting the saints.

where is the UN located? so we deal with all the kings of the earth ... etc, etc

When Bill Clinton won election, one particularly obnoxious Hollywood leftist by the name Ron Silver, gleefully announced that all those shiny jets and ships and tanks were now "theirs". Bill dutifully went on to involve the US a few immoral little wars that the military faithfully prosecuted. It would take an acute Constituional crisis to get anyone to mutiny.

It's interesting to compare this take with Wretchard's at Belmont Club.

"One the most frequently cited reasons for electing Hillary is that only she can fix Obama's failures. She has the requisite familiarity with Gordian knot to untie it, because she helped entangle it. But that's not the half of it, Donald "The Outsider" Trump, everyone in the policy elite seems to have concluded, can't return things to normal because he doesn't know what they looked like Once Upon a Time, like Hillary did. "

@39 I hate to say it out loud but as a Christian who has studied Revelation and Daniel pretty extensively over the years, I don't see anything in either book that looks anything remotely like the good old USA (at least not the free, prosperous, powerful Christian constitutional republic we all like to think of when we think of the USA).

You make an excellent case for pan-millennialism. Not that Daniel fits into the future, since all those prophesies were fulfilled thousands of years ago. Be sure to apply Occam's Razor to your prophesy interpretations. That the USA is not in the Bible in any form or fashion is clear to anyone who is not fixated on eschatology.

If there is not a Trumpslide on November 8th, there is a very good chance that the USA will find itself at war with a Russo-Chinese alliance. And that is a war that a USA saddled with the incompetent and unwell Hillary Clinton as Commander-in-Chief will almost certainly lose.

Even Hillary can't lose the homeland with Admirals Atlantic and Pacific along with the good ol' Second Amendment. Getting kicked out of the Middle East and losing World Policeman status, might be a net positive.

@The Other Robot: We will probably start by trying to enforce a no-fly zone in Syria. We can apply overwhelming force and Russia will be able to put up only a valiant, but hopeless, defense. This will put Putin in a difficult position. If he doesn't respond it could be the end of his government and will certainly end Russia's reputation for opposing the US Empire. If he does respond the 'Western' Media will label him an aggressor, justifying all out war.

We will probably try to keep the war confined to Naval and Air operations since we would feel more confident in our technological superiority and also avoid all the problems with a 'land war in Asia'. We will attempt to strike military and economic targets throughout the Russian Federation.

It will come down to whether or not our aircraft are invisible to Russian air defense and also how good our ASW and AEGIS systems are.

If the American people watch a US Aircraft Carrier burn and sink on CNN/FOX News, it could really put a damper on our desire to fight, particularly since the war will be controversial to begin with.

When I read WR Mead's exculpatory rambling, I think of all the other White people who can see that Obama's problem --like so many of his kind-- is a Dunning-Kruger lack of intellect combined with narcissism and an intent of malice but cannot bring themselves to say these transgressive truths out loud because of his sacred color, so they fall into reaction formation and sound like acolytes instead.

You don't get it. They have so many options. Imagine if they declare a no-fly zone over the Ukraine, then we can choose to stop talking about it or start flying over it or look weak. Pick one, and explain it to normies.

"Either Mead is incredibly stupid, or, as with Obama, we need to question whether..."

Mead is a classic soft-handed bien-pensant, a guy who has never been punched in the face. That is what informs his world view, at bottom. As the old adage goes, Never trust a man who has never been punched in the face. Or as the other adage goes, Never trust a man who's never backed a horse in anger in his life.

@SciVo: Oh, I get it. I will presume you know what you're talking about and when you said, "no-fly zone over the Ukraine", what you meant was 'no-fly zone over the Ukraine as part of a general blockade of Transnistria'. That would indeed provoke a Russian response, but one that we would have difficulty in countering.

Always remember, "War is the continuation of politics by other means". We will be looking for a quick political payoff that:

1. Costs as few American body bags (the regime cares nothing for lives) as possible.2. Demonstrates US Imperial domination of Russia on a chosen field of conflict.3. Quickly elevates political resistance to the conflict among the Russian people.

If possible we should want to avoid beginning the conflict by striking directly at the Russian homeland or at a former Soviet Republic as this is likely to inflame Russian patriotism. Also striking that close to the Russian heartland puts a greater logistical burden on us, while making it significantly easier for Russia.

Striking at Syria is a much better choice because it is near the end of Russia effective force projection range. In the atmosphere of a US attack the logistical situation in Syria would be nigh impossible for Russia. Meanwhile we could easily bring overwhelming force to bear and would have little difficulty supplying it.

Of course with Hillary as CinC who knows what kind of stupidity we'll engage in.

"But I don't understand the latter. Which I guess means you shouldn't trust me?"

Well, you should never trust anybody on the internet, right?

I'd be happy to explain the adage, but it would be better if somebody else gave it a go, just to prove it's commonly understood and I'm not a lunatic. But if nobody volunteers, then.... maybe I AM a lunatic (SINISTER GIGGLE).

weka wrote:@51. I do recall that post, Col. My though is that there have been too many shit tests -- marching in heels, pink uniforms etc -- that have weeded out the warriors, or are weeding out the warriors.

it snowballed into a “Yoga Pants Parade” Sunday afternoon with hundreds of people walking past the letter writer’s house — and a few death threats, according to the author, who said he had only intended satire.

“To all yoga pant wearers, I struggle with my own physicality as I age,” wrote Alan Sorrentino, 63, in the letter published by the Barrington Times last week. “I don’t want to struggle with yours.”

The letter, which said adult women wearing yoga pants in public was comparable to men wearing Speedos to the grocery store, went viral. The backlash was immediate, passionate, and international.

@80 the dude is spot on, but its his own fault for offending the privileged victim class. He did inspire me to write an open letter of my own. I will describe how I'm offended by cute topless blondes who are slutty. I'll even post my address to make it easier for the young women to find my house. heck I'll arrange refreshments. Now to start writing.

Bob, we will have the potential for a bunch of officers and other ranks not following orders. And the Hildebeest will not know in advance who will and who won't, thus making the armed forces much less useful to her. Conversely, if everyone resigned who was not a lefty - and something around 10%, possibly these days 20%, of the armed forces are more or less liberal, then she has a DoD that is politically reliable for her. The advantages of this, to us, continue to elude me.

Obama will only be president for about 80 more days. He didn't take away all the guns, terrorists didn't destroy America, or put it in depression. As much as Trump wants it to be a disaster, America is in pretty good shape Obama actually is going out with +55 and maybe 60% approval by mid-January. ISIS is on the run in Mosul and his 3rd term is materializing through Clinton. Much of this is because of the alt-right.

They won't break with DC until there's a fairly clear constitutional crisis, that cannot be looked at any other way. Simple election of the Hildebeest, while fraught with a future crisis, is not that crisis, itself.

That's my read on the situation exactly. In an of itself Hillary's election won't change anything. If she tries to disband Congress or something else along those lines... different story.

Us hard headed rednecks gotta go, ammirite, Colonel Tom?Why have you all of a sudden changed your mind on the shit that is going down, and switched sides all of a sudden, Tom ? How can can we trust you, Colonel ?The answer is clear, we cant and we wont.Go fuck your yankee ass, Tommy boy. We ain't playin', hoss.

Remus, you're still an idiot and the number one exemplar of why the Confederacy lost. You're also a fucking thief of honor by (lack of virtue) of stealing the name of a real man. So fuck off and go molest some little boys, that being about your speed.

Remus, you're still an idiot and the number one exemplar of why the Confederacy lost. You're also a fucking thief of honor by (lack of virtue) of stealing the name of a real man. So fuck off and go molest some little boys, that being about your speed.

I swear, I so want to see the look on Mead's face if or when he reads "he's either incredibly stupid, or....".It would be simply priceless. If he read how VD has connected the dots of the last 8 years, he'd presumably get defensive, but I have to believe it would give him pause as he reflects on his current affairs predictions and observations being possibly wrongheaded, ass-backward ignorance-and worse, the fact that it's being pointed out by everyone's favorite arch-nemesis. Good times.

Post a Comment

Rules of the blogPlease do not comment as "Anonymous". Comments by "Anonymous" will be spammed.